Stefan, a wonderful update and summary of observations of the Battle of Kursk. It is terrific to see you back here. I greatly value your observations on the war and have missed them!
So glad you're back! Please do continue blogging. There is nothing anywhere so immediately clear and understandable about this war than your regular posts. In your absence I had almost given up trying to understand events by reading the conflicting, self-congratulating, and confusing mess of guess work that was available while you were gone. The timely and pointed reporting you provide contributes in important ways to keeping alive the western (read American) drive to supply Ukraine with the equipment it needs when it needs it. It often seems a losing battle to keep Washington's drive in gear, but it works better when there's strong journalism behind it. And frankly, the strongest journalism is not coming from the leading American news organizations.
Only thought I would add is that when comparing the 23 offensive to this one, there has to be some more emphasis on the political side - the allies were not going to give UA all that equipment if they knew it would be used on Russian territory, so UA didn't have the option of attacking into a much "softer" part of the border. The slug fest was baked into the political messaging from UA, bc the equipment was given in order to facilitate taking back their land up to the 1991 border. And there was no part of that line that was as lightly reinforced as Kursk.
Going back to the Deep Battle concept, there was no part of the line in occupied Ukraine which had the "operational emptiness(?? translation)" (оперативный простор) behind it where mobile units could move around and break things quickly enough to stay inside the OODA loop of the Russians, like UA are doing in Kursk.
Stefan, a wonderful update and summary of observations of the Battle of Kursk. It is terrific to see you back here. I greatly value your observations on the war and have missed them!
General - Worth your time to try and get Stefan’s sub-stack to pro-Ukrainian M Sgt. now Gov. Walz?
Thank you for being back, and for the detailed analysis of what was well done in the opening, a summary I havent seen elsewhere.
So glad you're back! Please do continue blogging. There is nothing anywhere so immediately clear and understandable about this war than your regular posts. In your absence I had almost given up trying to understand events by reading the conflicting, self-congratulating, and confusing mess of guess work that was available while you were gone. The timely and pointed reporting you provide contributes in important ways to keeping alive the western (read American) drive to supply Ukraine with the equipment it needs when it needs it. It often seems a losing battle to keep Washington's drive in gear, but it works better when there's strong journalism behind it. And frankly, the strongest journalism is not coming from the leading American news organizations.
Thanks for the write up. Much better than traditional media. Thanks for taking the time and effort; look forward to seeing more.
The readers pulled you back in Stefan, but I'm glad they did👍.
Excellent article, good to get a few historical parallels in and you've filled in some gaps in my knowledge particularly around drones. Good work.
Huzzah Stefan is back at it.
Excellent article. Fantastic to see you again. And glad you are still safe.
I can only agree with the comments above.
You were thoroughly missed, your envigorating voice lacking in the news stream.
Thank you!
Thank you very much.
Skip FB and come straight to Substack! Good to see you back
Somebody get Kamala Harris reading Stefan.
great update Stefan,much appreciated!
Thank heavens you are back. The only well informed but personal narrative on this terrible war.
Stefan, I am a first-time reader and enjoyed this article. Thanks, and Slava Ukraine.
Thank you thank you thank you for bringing back your unique perspective! By far the best I read.
BTW, I read you on substack, as you know an easy place to publish. Why continue to bother with FB?
Great article.
Only thought I would add is that when comparing the 23 offensive to this one, there has to be some more emphasis on the political side - the allies were not going to give UA all that equipment if they knew it would be used on Russian territory, so UA didn't have the option of attacking into a much "softer" part of the border. The slug fest was baked into the political messaging from UA, bc the equipment was given in order to facilitate taking back their land up to the 1991 border. And there was no part of that line that was as lightly reinforced as Kursk.
Going back to the Deep Battle concept, there was no part of the line in occupied Ukraine which had the "operational emptiness(?? translation)" (оперативный простор) behind it where mobile units could move around and break things quickly enough to stay inside the OODA loop of the Russians, like UA are doing in Kursk.